With War Brings Love
by brittanaslove96
Summary: When Dr. Santana Lopez first joins the military to care for people the way her parents never did for her, the last thing she was expecting to find in a small camp in the middle of nowhere was her. Sergeant Brittany S. Pierce. With the war all around them, will they find the happiness they both want? Brittana! Romance/Angst/Humor/Friendship
1. Chapter 1

May 18th 2013,

I'm sitting on my bed in my tent, re-reading the letters I sent home (only to be returned), when I felt my bed dip behind me and two, strong arms wrapped around my waist. I grinned, immediately knowing who it was. Her. Master Sergeant (Msg) Brittany S. Pierce. Brittany and I have known each other a little over two years now ever since I first joined the military back in 2011 and we had to share a tent due to lack of space. She didn't mind thankfully. Actually, she was more than happy to share her space with the new doctor around camp that would bring a great deal of service to her fellow soldiers.

We spent that first night lying in our respectable beds, talking and learning about each other's lives. Surprisingly enough, she's from Lima, Ohio, same as me. It's such a small town; you'd think that I would've seen her before. I wouldn't forget a face like that. Turns out that her parents were really overprotective of her and she went to a private school forty minutes away from town.

We learned about each other's childhood; she learned about my fear of heights while I learned about the scar across her chest and stomach from what should've been a fatal motocross accident. How I wanted to join the military to help and care for others the way my parents never did for me and how she joined so she could prove her parents wrong, to show them she was capable of doing bigger and better things than they would ever give her credit for. We spoke like we knew each other forever.

Months passed quickly with my new found friendship. Every night before bed, we would sit and talk about the others day. It was nice and new to me. I've never been the person someone would want to share their day with.

Back in Lima, I'm kind of what you'd call a bitch. No, ok I'm a bitch. I was head cheerleader, daughter of a doctor, had more money than I knew what to do with. I was living the life and didn't give a shit what anybody had to say about my choices or who I slept with. It wasn't until I was sitting in my second day of college when I got a phone call that my best friend, Tina, was killed after a car crash due to internal bleeding. After that, my whole outlook on life changed. I dropped out of school and in turn went to medical school. The doctors said they did everything they could to stop the bleeding but, it wouldn't stop. I swore to myself I would go to medical school and be the best damn doctor so nobody would ever have to go through what I did with Tina. Here I am six years later keeping my promise. Nobody that's been brought through the Lima General Emergency Room has died under my hand.

For some reason, Brittany's the only person I'm never a bitch towards. Don't get me wrong, she says some very…different things than any other person I've ever spoken to and if she were anyone else saying these crazy things, I'd probably be in jail right about now from killing them. But when it's Britany saying it, I just find it adorable and I can't get mad at her. So days turned to weeks turned to months and we knew just about everything, if not everything, about each other. It wasn't until about a year later that things started to change…

March 12th 2012

I woke up this morning same as always. Got up, brushed my teeth, and started to change into my uniform before heading to breakfast. It wasn't until I had already taken my tank top off, standing in only my old cheerleading shorts and sports bra, that I noticed she was staring at me.

"Uh, can I help you?" I asked with a slight smirk and a chuckle. She didn't answer, which wasn't uncommon for her lately. She was just staring at me, lost in thought, with a look on her face that looked…confused? Intrigued? So I did what I knew would bring her mind back to earth.

Walking up to her where she was sitting on her bed, I practically got in her face and snapped to get her attention.

"Hello, earth to Brittany." I said with a smile. "Huh, what?" she asked, blinking rapidly. "You spaced out again. You ok? I know the Generals been tough on you lately." I spoke softly so she would realize I actually wanted to know if she was ok. "Yeah, I'm alright. Sorry." She said with a small nod, still looking at the spot I was standing in when I was changing.

It wasn't until she finally turned her head to make eye contact with me, that I realized how close we were. I took in a sharp breath when hers hit my face. That was the first time I realized just how beautiful she was. I've always known she was beautiful but, now with the way her eyes sparkled in the sun coming though the corners of the tent and were a little glossy from just waking up, the way she had two strands of hair hanging on either side of her face from her (almost) perfect bun, and the cute freckles that seemed to show more when she's been out in the sun, now I could really see how beautiful she was. Damn, she was gorgeous.

We didn't speak for what felt like hours which turned out to be only a few minutes. It wasn't until some hair fell in front of my face that she finally moved.

Keeping eye contact, she lifted her right hand slowly to my face and pushed the stray hair behind my ear. My breath hitched and I hoped she didn't notice how blatantly obvious I was being. She did of course. Brittany didn't pull her hand away and I leaned into her touch instinctively, wanting more. I knew we wanted the same thing when I saw her smirk.

Eyes continuing to stay locked, her hand still on my cheek, Brittany stood up so she was now taller than me. I hesitantly lifted my hands and placed them on her waist. She put her other hand on the small of my back to pull me closer. Our bodies pressed against each other slightly, breath bouncing off the others, with one quick movement I knew our lips would connect. '_All I have to do is'_—

"Sergeant Pierce! Sergeant Pierce!" A yell was heard outside our tent. Even though all soldiers have been given strict orders as to not enter our tent without permission (so my medical studies wouldn't be interrupted) we flew back from one another. Stumbling, I landed on my bed (gracefully I might add) while she fell onto and over her bed and onto the ground with thud. I sat up, mouth agape, at a loss for words, hoping she didn't hurt herself.

"Oh my god. Are you ok?" I whispered loudly so she could hear me but the soldier standing just outside couldn't. It wasn't until I saw her head pop up from the other side of the bed, bun sideways on her head, and blushing when I blushed just as much and stifled a laugh. Our eyes connected across the tent and she gave me a shy, embarrassed smile.

She snorted and her smile (as well as her blushing) grew. "Uh yeah. I'm ok. Just wasn't expecting to be interrupted." "Yeah me neither." I scoffed quietly under my breath.

Brittany scrambled off the floor. Trying to fix her now haphazard clothes and hair, she made her way to the front flaps of the tent to find out what was so important that he interrupted her morning.

Checking herself once more, she gave me one last blushing smile over her shoulder and stepped outside, meeting the soldier.

By the time she came back inside, I was already dressed in my uniform, hair fixed, and bed made.

"What happened this time that was sooo important that he needed to interrupt our morning?" I asked sarcastically. I knew whatever it was that it wasn't something serious but, from the look on her face, I knew it wasn't something she was happy with.

"Private (Pvt) Puckerman was caught, once again, leaving Pvt Fabray's tent. Now because I've let it slide so many times and because Pvt Anderson has to go 'by the book' and report what he saw to me, I had to go tell General Sylvester and you _know_ how that conversation went." She said with a sigh and an over exaggerated eye roll.

"Hmm…she screamed at you for not reporting it to her sooner, threatened to lower your rank, which she'll never do, and threatened to cut off Puckerman's balls so she can feed them to her dogs?" I said with a smirk and a laugh. "And Bingo was his name-o." She snorted with a genuine smile and pointed at me. She looked at me with soft eyes and her smile faltered ever so slightly when she tilted her head to the side. Noticing I was getting lost in her eyes again, I coughed awkwardly, blushed, and broke our eye contact.

"I've gotta gay. GO! I've gotta go, go to breakfast. With the other soldiers. I'll uh, see you later." I practically bolted from the tent leaving the blonde, blue eyed beauty confused behind me. '_Stupid, stupid, stupid. Real smooth Santana. Why didn't you just keep your damn mouth shut? Now she definitely knows. Well, I mean, she probably knew earlier. That way she was looking at me? I'm pretty sure she almost kissed me! Or did I almost kiss her? Ugh, why am I making this such a big deal? Jesus, tonight's going to be awkward.'_

Scrutinizing myself all the way to the wreck hall, I was stopped in my tracks from a familiar screaming coming from in front of me.

"One more infraction like that Puckerman and I'll make damn sure that not only will your balls get chopped off and fed to my dogs but, you will be finding yourself on a one person, one way boat trip across the Atlantic and back to America with nothing but a half filled bottle of water and a stale cracker! Do you understand me?" "Yes General Sylvester!" "Good! Now get your ass out there and give me fifty laps around camp and when you're done, give me fifty more!"

And with that, Puckerman took off like a scared puppy with his tail between his legs. Like clockwork, I heard another familiar voice from behind me.

"Lopez! Hey Lopez wait up!" I turned and like an angel running towards me with the sun behind her and bouncing off her golden hair, which was now fixed and in her (almost) perfect bun, I didn't realize I was staring awestruck until Brittany was right in front me and snapping me back to reality.

"Hey there space cadet. And you were accusing me of staring this morning?" She whispered into my ear making me shudder. "Come on. We're already late so the gross, hot oatmeal is gonna be gross, cold oatmeal." She spoke after straightening her back and away from my ear. Brittany grabbed my hand and I swore a burst of electricity shot through my veins.

She turned and began jogging towards the building. After stumbling a few steps, I caught my footing and fell into step next to her, still holding hands. I looked at her sideways, '_gorgeous_', I thought. Like she read my thoughts, she turned her head to smile back, though she had a certain glint in her eyes that I've never really seen before besides this morning in the tent when we almost…you know. She gave my hand a little squeeze before turning her head back to focus on where she was going.

'_Tonight's going to be a good night. I can already tell.'_


	2. Chapter 2

March 12th 2012 (Same day: Dinner)

"Lopez, can you pass me that water?" Of course I heard Brittany ask me for the canteen we were sharing like we always do for dinner, but I couldn't move. I was too busy concentrating on the way her hand has been slowly creeping up my thigh, under the table, and out of sight from everyone else, for the past half hour. I've barely been able to eat. Every time I move, she moves her fingers up my leg slightly.

"Uh…Lopez. Hello? The water?" She nods her head towards the canteen on the other side of me. "Huh? Oh...water, right. Here." I hand her the water and when our hands meet, I look into her eyes and notice the devilish little smirk she's giving me with hooded eyes.

"Uh…I, um…" I lose my train of thought and tear my eyes away, shaking my head, only to look at my hardly eaten meal. I hear her giggle at me but I refused to meet her eyes again. Realizing I wasn't going to look at her this time, she leaned in close to me, her lips grazing the shell of my ear when she spoke, "You know doctor, if I were you, I wouldn't want to draw any unwanted attention to myself. People might start asking questions." She practically moaned, making me shudder when her tongue darted out and swiped it against my ear.

"If I keep this up, with what your reactions are telling me, I'll have you panting my name before we finish dinn-" "I gotta go!" I practically yelled, standing up far too quickly, only to lose my balance and almost fall into Brittany's lap. Everyone sitting at our table now had their eyes on me.

'_This is the unwanted attention Brittany warned me about. It's like she knew I'd make a fool of myself. How the hell did she know? I have to come up with a good excuse and fast-'_

"I…uh…I have this…this I have this thing I have to work on for the new medical tent and I just remembered it. I'll see you guys later." And with that, I went back to my tent to take a cold shower.

I was sitting on my bed reading, trying to forget about the events that happened at dinner, when the tent flaps opened and in walked Brittany with a satisfied smirk across her face. I scoffed at her, rolled my eyes, and focused my attention back on my studies. I didn't acknowledge her any more than when she first walked in. After just standing and staring at me with her arms crossed over her chest for about five minutes, I finally gave in.

"What?" I asked, a little harsher than I originally intended to but she didn't seem to notice. She snorted, shaking her head and speaking with a smirk, "Oh nothing, I just find it interesting how you practically ran out of the wreck hall because you remembered this very important thing you had to work on for the new medical tent. I didn't realize that 'thing' was sitting on your bed reading a book about bullet removal." Her smirk never faltering while she walked across the tent and up to the side of my bed. I'd had enough.

"You know what Britt," I stood, getting in her face, "ever since this morning when I caught you staring at me changing, you've done nothing but tease me and make fun of me." With this, her smirk fell. "To tell you the truth, I'm kind of sick of it. Look I don't mind it if you do it at appropriate times. But I was so distracted that I couldn't even eat dinner." I said this and flopped down onto my bed. Brittany looked down at her feet. She was embarrassed and I knew I made her upset.

'_Shit…'_

"Britt I-" "No you're right, I took it too far. I've been teasing you all day and you've dealt with it. I felt bad that you didn't get to eat, so I grabbed some muffins for you. I'm sorry San, the last thing I wanted was for you to get mad at me. I was only trying to have some fun. To be honest, you look really cute when you get flustered." She said all this, not looking up while sitting on her bed as she pulled out two chocolate chip muffins from her satchel, making my angry expression soften.

It was quiet, the only sound coming from our breathing. It stayed like that for a while, neither of us talking, not wanting to break the silence. Looking at the way Brittany was sitting in front of me with her head down, holding the muffins, made my heart ache a little and gave me a sudden surge of confidence.

I straightened my back, stood up, and stepped forward to stand in front of her. I waited for her to look up at me with those crystal blue eyes and when she did, I took the muffins from her hands and placed them on my desk that separated our beds.

"What are yo-" "Shh" I silenced her with a finger over her mouth. She gave me a look that was confused, scared, and excited. She knew as well as I did what was going to happen.

I pushed the loose strands of hair out of her face and behind her ear with one hand. With my other hand, I pushed her slowly down by her shoulder so she was lying flat on her back. I crawled on top of her and straddled her toned stomach and hips. I saw her swallow nervously and shudder when our hips connected. At this, I smirked, finding it rather ironic.

"Not so funny when you're the one being teased now is it?" Brittany blushed and just before she could reply, my lips were on hers. She tensed and I immediately thought I had made the wrong decision. I went to pull away but couldn't when she put her hand on the back of my neck, pulling me deeper into the kiss. We both relaxed into each other's touch, our lips finding a steady rhythm against the others.

At first we were both hesitant, neither of us knowing what we should or shouldn't do. I started to slowly rock my hips against hers in time with our kissing, earning me a moan deep from her throat. She let go of my neck and both of her hands started to travel up and down my sides. Damn, it felt so good having her under me. I moved my left hand down her body and pulled her tank top free from her uniform pants. I slid my hand under her tank top and rested it on her side. _'Her skin is ridiculously soft for someone who's been in the military as long as she has…I love it.' _I thought.

Our kissing became a little more frantic. When she bit my lip and sucked it into her mouth, I hissed and bucked my hips into hers while squeezing her side, which she giggled at from being so ticklish. I rolled my eyes and smiled into the kiss, squeezing her side again to earn another adorable laugh. I broke our kiss and traveled my swollen lips down her face and across her neck, giving us some time to catch our breath. Stopping on her pulse point, I nipped and sucked at her kin, ultimately turning her giggles into moans of pleasure.

I smirked, satisfied with myself that I was able to make Brittany create those sounds. She tangled her long fingers through my hair, pulling me closer into her neck. Just as I was about to start moving further down her body, a gun shot went off in the distance…

I rolled off of her quickly when her eyes shot open. "What the fuck was that?" I asked as calmly as I could, knowing she was just as scared as I was. Again, another gun shot was heard, this time closer. Running was heard passing our tent along with shouts from the other soldiers in the camp. "I don't know, but I doubt it was just a training exercise." Brittany looked at me with fear filled eyes.

With General Sylvester in charge of the camp, it wasn't unusual for her to perform very realistic training scenarios with the soldiers. Sylvester always wanted to make sure her soldiers were always on their toes and ready for action. _"This isn't some Saturday morning show where the bad guys take pity on you just because you're unprepared or whimpering on the floor in front of them, they will kill you if they get the chance. Don't give them that chance." _She'd say this before every training run, always with a small sense of sympathy in her voice. The only difference between this time and those times was that Brittany wasn't told of any training that was supposed to happen sergeants were told the day before and expected to report to all soldiers that there would be a training scenario the next day. Brittany wasn't told. Something was wrong.

Brittany got up slowly from the bed, listening to the commotion coming from outside. She made her way over to her small table and pulled two pistols from the drawer. From outside the tent we could only make out a few words as soldiers ran past. 'Shot', 'track them', 'the river', 'five.' Turning towards me where I was still sitting, she leaned over and handed me one of the pistols. I hesitantly lifted my hand, shaking while I grabbed the butt of the gun.

"It's already loaded. All you have to do is pull the trigger. I have to go find out what's going on. Stay out of sight and whatever you do, don't come looking for me." This was the most serious I've ever seen Brittany since I first met her. This side of her scared me. "Britt, no, I'm not going to let you go out there by yourself let me-" "Santana stop!" She looked at me angrily before softening a little. "You're not coming with me. You need to stay here, safe, and out of harm's way. You're the best doctor we have here and the last thing we need is for you to get hurt. The last thing I need is for you to get hurt…or worse." With that she looked away from me and towards the floor.

Another gun shot was heard, thankfully farther away but still too close. "I have to go now. Please stay safe. Remember, point and shoot. I will find you." She walked over to me, kissed me like it was her last time (which worried me even more) and by the time I opened my eyes, she was gone.

I didn't know what to do, so I did the one thing that seemed logical; hide. I got up pulled the rest of my combat gear on. (Being a doctor, I have multiple uniforms. I train the same as the other soldiers to stay in shape, so there's my 'work-out' uniform, my combat uniform, my lab coat and medical uniform, and my relaxing uniform.) I pushed my bed against the side of the tent making a blockade between me and the front flaps of the tent, leaving enough space behind me to slip out of the tent by the pole holding up the cloth if I needed to make a quick exit.

I sat there, crouched in the corner of the tent, slowing my breathing down so I could hear what was going on outside. My thoughts immediately drifted to Brittany, hoping she was alright. I was pulled from my thoughts when I heard footsteps coming towards my tent quickly. I ducked down so I wouldn't be visible behind my bed. They stopped right outside my tent for a moment before the flaps flew open. I put my finger on the trigger, ready to kill any bastard that wanted to try anything.

"Santana? Are you in here?" My head shot up from behind the bed at the familiar voice. "Puck? What the fuck…what are you doing? What's going on? Is Britt alright?" I had so many questions that I wanted answers to and I wanted them now. I jumped out of my crouching position and crawled over the bed so I was standing in front of him. To say I was shocked when he pulled me into a tight hug would be an understatement.

Within the first week I arrived at camp, Puck became one of my closest friends, along with Quinn, and Brittany of course. (We all had an unwritten rule between us that we would always address each other by last name or rank while outside our tents so nobody would question us.) Within the first month, Puck and I had hooked up. I don't regret it but we both agreed it just seemed weird. He was more of a big brother to me than a lover. Although I know he cares about me, he's never shown it physically. So, when he hugged me, I was a little taken back by the action. But, in turn, I hugged him back, thankful for the comfort it brought me.

"Oh my god, I was so worried about you." He hugged me tighter before letting go and holding me away from him by my shoulders to look at me. "You are ok right?" He looked at me, his eyes filled with worry. "Yes, Puck I'm fine. Better now that I have a familiar face standing in front of me." I gave him a sad smile. "Do you know what's going on? Have you heard from Brittany at all? Quinn?" I asked him, my voice quivering.

"Actually that's the reason I came looking for you, besides the fact that I wanted to make sure you were ok. I ran into Brittany when she was on her way down towards the river. Me and Quinn were on patrol together when we were ambushed." He sighed and looked away from me. "Holy shit, what the hell happened?" I wanted to know everything. "Come on. Let's head over to the medical tent. Brittany told me to bring Quinn there and then come find you. She said you were still in your tent."

I slipped the pistol into the back of my pants. Turning, we both ran out of the tent and towards the medical tent where I could see multiple soldiers being brought in by nurses and other soldiers. _'God I hope Brittany isn't one of them.'_ I gulped nervously and turned my head to see a single tear drop down Puck's cheek. I looked back in front of us as we got closer to the tent to see what made him start to cry. I gasped and stumbled a little noticing who it was. _'Finn…'_ Finn laid on the ground motionless, three nurses hovering over him. I snapped into action as soon as I was close enough.

"Marley, Kitty, get him inside and on the operating table now!" I yelled pointing towards an unconscious Finn who was losing a lot of blood. "Rachel, you're with me. We need to get him to stop bleeding. Mercedes, find Quinn and do whatever needs to be done until I can help ok? GO, GO, GO!"

I turned to Puck and grabbed his shoulder to get him to look at me. "Don't worry Puck. I'll save the both. I promise." With that I ran off to help Rachel, my head nurse, to get Finn's wounds cleaned and the bleeding to stop.

'_It's going to be a long night…'_


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's note: I don't know about you guys but, I'm really into this story! It's a lot of fun to write. Just giving you all a heads up that the rating of this story is M and its rated M for a reason. So just know that things are going to get a little interesting between Brittany and Santana in this chapter plus others. Maybe we'll even see some Puck and Quinn or I don't know something crazy like…Quinn and Rachel since Quinn's still in the hospital tent and Rachel is in charge of taking care of her? Let's see where this story goes! Also, this chapter really starts to show the friendship between Santana and Quinn so there's that…and there will be other appearances from the other characters in Glee throughout this story but, our main characters so far are Santana and Brittany (obviously) and Puck and Quinn. Let me know what you guys think!**

March 13th 2013 (3:30a.m.)

I'm not sure how much time had passed but it was well into the night by the time I got Finn's bleeding to stop and his breathing under control. He lost a lot of blood and his bullet wounds were deep, but he would make it along with Quinn who was shot in the shoulder. It wasn't until I was leaning against the pole of the tent, drinking from my canteen that I felt a tap on my shoulder and I realized just how exhausted I was. I turned and the first look of relief graced my face that night since this all started, along with a much appreciated burst of energy.

"Britt! Oh thank god you're alright!" I threw my arms around her neck and hugged her tight, never wanting to let go. "I told you I'd find you" I could hear the smile in her voice. I pulled back from her, getting a good look at her. Frowning, I brought my hand to her face, gently swiping my thumb over a bruised check bone and the cut across the bridge of her nose and forehead.

"What happened tonight?" I asked, still so desperate for answers. "How about you finish up what you need to do here and then we'll go back to the tent and I'll explain everything to you, sound like a plan?" She asked with a small smile while she took my hand in hers and gave it a light squeeze. I returned her smile and said, "I'd love to talk about it but I'm probably going to be here for at least another hour just to make sure Quinn's body doesn't have a reaction to the medication. After I'm done, I'm probably going to go back to the tent and pass out for a few before having to wake up in three hours to do our morning run." I sighed looking at her tired eyes.

"You don't have to worry about that. All the sergeants had a talk with Sylvester right after we got back to camp and she said to tell everyone that we have the day off tomorrow. She wants us all to relax and get our thoughts together. She knows how scared we all were tonight. It was something none of us were expecting, especially Sylvester who always knows what's happening." Brittany shuffled towards me and put her arm around my shoulders giving me a one-armed hug. _'That's odd…she's never been shy to give me a hug (or anyone) out in the open before. She's just naturally a huggable, caring person. There's something wrong.'_

Brittany went to walk away and just before she was out of the tent, I grabbed her wrist on the arm she didn't hug me with. Doing so earned me a little squeal from her lips and she pulled her arm from my grasp. _'Mhm, that's what I thought.'_

"Brittany…" I dragged out with a little sarcasm until she looked at me. "What's going on? Why didn't you tell me you were hurt?" "I'm fine San. I just landed on it wrong when I tackled one of the guys. It's just a little bruised. Trust me, I'm alright. I'll meet you back at the tent. See you soon." Brittany gave me a tight lipped smile and before I could speak, she was out of the tent and half way across the field.

I heard a cough come from behind me. I looked over my shoulder to see Quinn waking up.

"Hey Q, how you feeling?" I handed her a glass of water and took her temperature. Clearing her throat, Quinn spoke, "I've been better but, I'm alright and alive thanks to you." She smiled and tried to sit up, grunting from the pain in her left shoulder. "Easy there Evel Knievel, you have about seven stitches in there so no sudden movements alright?" She huffed at me, muttering something under her breath until she finally settled back into the medical bed.

"What happened? After Puck and I were ambushed, I blacked out." Quinn looked up at me curiously. "Well, you were shot from behind and the strength from the distance the shooter shot you at was enough to knock you unconscious. Lucky for you, he had bad aim. Two more inches or so to your right and you'd be dead." I looked at her with sad eyes. I was so pissed off and upset that this happened to her. Quinn's always been a strong girl. Pain has never been an issue for her, but when it comes to a bullet, the bullet usually wins.

"I'm really glad you're alright Q." I spoke softly, a hint of fear in my voice when I leaned over to move the short hair from her face. "I was so scared when Puck found me saying you were both ambushed and that you were in the medical tent. I immediately thought the worst…" I trailed off not wanting to say what I was thinking. She knew though. Quinn was a smart girl, probably the smartest in our little camp. She was smart enough to figure out how lucky she was.

"How is Puck? Is he alright? I wasn't exactly awake when he was here earlier but I could hear him talking to you." "He's fine. A little shaken up but fine none the less." I gave her a genuine smile which she returned. "He really cares about you Q. I've never seen him so scared or cry before. He freaked." I looked away from her, feeling my own emotions creeping up on me. "He was crying? It couldn't have been just about me…" She trailed off. I met her eyes again and told her what happened with Finn. She was completely shocked at how bad things had gotten when she was unconscious. But, when I told her how after he knew Finn was alive and breathing, Puck chose to sit by Quinn's side until I had the opportunity to check on her. This made her eyes light up but her expression stayed the same.

"Wow. I don't know what to say." "Well listen, it's about 5a.m. and you need your rest along with me. I just wanted to make sure your body wouldn't reject the antibiotics before I headed back to my tent. I have to go check on Brittany anyway." I scoffed. I knew Brittany was keeping something from me, but I didn't know what and it was annoying me. "Oh, I heard a little of that when I was waking up. Is she alright? She sounded in pain right before she left." Quinn asked. "I don't know Q, she's definitely in pain, I can tell but, she won't admit it." Now I was getting frustrated thinking about what Brittany was keeping from me. "Yeah I understand. She's been that way as long as I can remember S. She's just doing her tough girl routine. You know how much she hates getting help." I giggled when Quinn said this because it was true. Brittany hated getting help. If she couldn't do it herself, she would keep trying to do it until she could.

"I know, I know. I just wish she knew that I'm here to help her you know? Yeah it's my job but, I really care about all of you." "Don't worry S, she knows along with Puck and I, how much you care. Now how about you go back to your tent, fix her up, and get some rest huh? I would like a responsive doctor working on me." I snorted and flashed her a smile. "Alright, alright, alright I'm leaving. If you need anything during the rest of the night or whenever, just ask Rachel or ask Rachel to come find me ok? Get some sleep girl." I leaned over and gave Quinn a quick kiss on the forehead. I turned and was walking through the flaps of the tent when Quinn called for me again.

"Hey S? Could you stop by Puck's tent and tell him I want to talk to him really quick?" She looked so nervous asking me and I couldn't help but smile. "Of course Q, I'll let him know right now." I turned to walk away again and stopped right after the flaps closed behind me, hearing her call for me again.

"Oh and S?" "Yeah Q?"

Silence.

I stuck my head back inside to see Quinn looking at me with a grateful expression. "Thank you. For saving my life. And for being my friend."

I smiled again, so happy to hear her say that. "Of course Q. You're family to me. Family has to keep each other safe. I'll see you later."

And with that I was off. I first stopped at Puck's tent to find him sitting outside, alone, in front of a small fire pit looking lost. When I told him Quinn was awake and was asking for him, he shot to his feet, pulled me into a hug and spun me. After I squealed, he set me upright on my feet, gave me a kiss on the cheek, and took off running towards the medical tent with a glint of happiness in his eyes.

I made it back to my tent and stood in front of it. Brittany was probably sleeping. She had a long night just as I did. If she wasn't sleeping, I had to come up with a plan. I knew Brittany wouldn't just tell me what was wrong with her arm. I'd have to make her show me.

A smirked crossed my face. _'I know the perfect way to get her to show me.'_

I straightened my back, unhooked the first two buttons on my uniform top for just enough cleavage, and took a calming breath. I pushed the flap of the tent out of the way and stepped inside. Surprised to see that she was awake, I saw that she was facing away from the front of the tent, sitting at my desk, and reading through my _How To: Removing Bullets & Dressing Bullet Wounds _textbook. _'Ahh so that's what happened…you were shot and didn't tell? Oh you are so getting it.' _I thought before I said anything. _'Alright, time to focus.'_

Oblivious to me standing behind her, I cleared my throat and spoke up sounding casual. "Hey I thought you'd be asleep already." She visibly jumped a little from my unknown presence and she shut the book quickly, leaning on it like she was never reading it. "Oh, uh hey. I thought you'd be a little longer. Is Quinn ok?" She didn't turn around when she spoke and I knew she was trying to change the subject. I walked up behind her and wrapped my arms around her neck from behind resting my chin on her hurt shoulder and giving her a kiss on the cheek. She tensed. I released my hold on her and walked over towards my bed saying, "yeah Quinn's fine. She woke up not long after you left. We got to talking and then she kicked me out so we could both get some rest."

I could feel her eyes burn into the back of me as I took my medical coat off and placed it on my bed. I turned my head just enough to adjust my pillow and make it look like I wasn't watching her watch me. I could see her out of the corner of my eye practically drooling over me. _'Gotcha.' _I thought and smirked. I turned around and met her stare. Well, I met her stare with my cleavage. "See something you like? You're staring pretty hard right now." She shook her head to clear her thoughts and met my eyes with an embarrassed look.

"I um, was just admiring your…medical badge. I've never seen you wear it before." I looked down at my chest and saw my shiny medical badge dangerously close to my cleavage, staring back at me. When I looked back up, I caught her scanning my body with her eyes. I bit my lip and smirked. I looked down at the floor and sauntered my way towards Brittany.

You know Britt Britt…" I began, speaking slowly as I walked, never looking up from the ground. "You should be more careful with your leering, you never know who's gonna see you doing it." I stopped right in front of her. Her whole body was facing me in the chair she sat in. I pushed her legs open my knees so I was standing between them. I wrapped my arms around her neck and looked into her eyes. Neither of us said and word and the only sound that came from either of us was when our lips connected heatedly.

We kissed, our tongues battling for dominance when I straddled her hips. It was a bit uncomfortable since she was sitting in a wooden chair but I was already too far gone to care. She kissed down and across my jawline, making me whimper every time her lips connected with my skin. I pulled her back up to my lips, needing them more. Brittany ran her hands down my back and onto my ass. She squeezed and I groaned at the sensation.

Then she did something unexpected. She got a firm holed on me and picked me up. I was surprised that our lips didn't falter. I wrapped my legs around her waist and she walked us over to my bed. She sat me down slowly and pushed me back until I was lying flat on my back and she was lying on top of me between my legs. _'God this is wonderful but I have to remember the plan. Brittany's hurt, and if I want to have more times like this, she needs to get proper help.'_

I wrapped my legs around her waist and with all the strength I had, in one swift motion, I flipped us and was now straddling Brittany's waist. She gasped into my mouth, shocked at the strength I showed with that movement. I laid on top of her, putting my full body weight on her. She wrapped her arms around my back, squeezing me against her. I broke our lips apart and started peppering her face with kisses. I gently placed a kiss on her bruised cheek bone and over the cut on her nose and forehead.

"You should really let me clean those for you Britt." "I told you I'm fine San…please just…keep going."

'_Dammit, why are you so stubborn?'_

I trailed my lips lower and swiped my tongue across her jawline earning a moan. "You taste so good Britt…" I sat up just enough to get my hands in between our bodies but not enough to break our kiss. I started to unbutton her combat jacket slowly, making her want it more. After getting it unbuttoned, I ran my hands down her sides and slid her tank top up so my hands where placed on her taut stomach. I pushed my hands teasingly slow up her abdomen and rested my palms just beneath her sports bra.

"Ugh…come on San stop teasing." I lifted from kissing her neck to give her my signature smirk. "What? Don't like it?" She blushed and rolled her eyes knowing that I was only doing it to get back at her from earlier during dinner.

When I connected our lips again, I started to rock my hips against hers, wanting to create more friction between us. She grunted and squeezed my hips, pulling me against hers harder. I sat up and attempted to push her jacket off of her shoulders. I forgot about my plan, now only wanting to get closer to Brittany and all these clothes were not helping. It wasn't until she had to lift her body so I could get the jacket off of her completely and out from underneath her, that she freaked out and practically threw me off of her. That's when I remembered my plan and that she was hiding her wound under her jacket.

"Britt! What the hell?"

'_Gotcha…'_

"Uh sorry I just…I didn't want to go too far, you know? I mean we haven't sat down and talked about it or anything and I didn't want it to happen and then you regret it. Then you'd stop talking to me, you'd go find another tent. We wouldn't be friends anymore and I jus-"

"BRITTANY!" She coward away from me. "…What?" "You're rambling. Again. And if you're the Brittany S. Pierce I know, then there's only two reasons as to why you'd be rambling. Either you're nervous or…you're lying. I doubt you're nervous about what we were doing just now being that you were so confident earlier. So, that leaves only one choice: You. Are. Lying."

It went silent between us. She didn't look at me. I would stand there and wait all day until she told me what she was hiding. About ten minutes passed and she still stayed silent. So, I spoke up.

"You know," I stepped towards her, "I would bet any amount of money that you're lying to me about that bullet wound on your left shoulder but, I could be wrong." Her head shot up and our eyes met. I gave her a smug look that told her I already knew.

'_Gotcha…'_

"But, how did yo-?" "When you know someone the way I know you, it becomes obvious what their signs are for when they're sad or in pain. For you, when you came into the medical tent earlier after you got back, you hugged me with one arm, which you never do. When you walked away from me and I grabbed you're wrist, you pulled away, with a grimace, and when you said you were fine before leaving the tent, you gave me a tight lipped smile."

Brittany shifted her weight back and forth on her feet, knowing that she'd been caught. So, for my own humorous reasons, I added something extra.

"Oh, and I walked in on you reading my _How To: Removing Bullets & Dressing Bullet Wounds _textbook, which, by the way, is still sitting out on my desk in plain sight, after you slammed it closed once you knew I was here." I pointed towards the textbook.

Brittany looked at everything in the tent, never meeting my gaze. I get that she wanted to be strong and didn't want me to worry about her but I'm a doctor. In the military. It's my job to take care of wounded soldiers and to worry for them.

"Alright, well, now that we've got it cleared that I know you have a bullet wound, how about I take a look at it?" It sounded like a question but, it was more of a demand. Brittany looked into my eyes and took her jacket off, embarrassed and in obvious pain. When she dropped her jacket on the storage trunk next to her, I saw that it bled through the make shift bandage she wrapped around it. I gave her a stern look, telling her just how bad it was with my eyes, as I started to undo the wrapping to examine her shoulder.

After fully unwrapping the ripped t-shirt of a bandage, I saw just how horrible her wound was. "Jesus Britt…you should've told me." I sighed and she gave me a one shouldered shrug.

Thankfully, although I'm not sure how, the bullet passed cleanly through her shoulder and out the other side. With the diameter of the hole, he wasn't entirely close to her, at least not enough for the impact to make her blackout, unlike Quinn. There was another smaller wound on the side of her shoulder where a bullet must have grazed her arm. Both seemed to have been washed but, I'm guessing Brittany was in too much pain to wash the clumps of dirt lodged into the wounds themselves. The graze was already starting to scab over, but the actual bullet hole was still bleeding.

I closed my eyes and took in a deep, calming breath. I was so upset and pissed off at her for not telling me yet, I wanted to hug her and tell her that I'm glad this was all that happened. I opened my eyes to find her staring at me with a questioning look.

I gave her a small smile, letting her know it was going to be alright. "Ok Britt, take a seat and let the doctor do her work." That got her to loosen up a bit, making her laugh and shake her head as she walked over to the wooden chair at my desk to sit down.

I went over to my bed and pulled out a small medical supply kit from under it that I made myself consisting of bandage wraps, burn ointment, alcohol wipes, and the other basic supplies found in a first-aid kit. Most importantly, it had my travel sized stitching container. I placed it on my bed and grabbed everything I needed including the numbing gel that I know Brittany would be thankful for.

"Alright Britt, you ready?" I asked, walking over to her before adding, "Now I'm gonna do my best to make it as painless as possible. It's still going to hurt so, I'm sorry in advance." She took my hand in hers and brought it to her lips where she kissed my knuckles.

"I think if I can handle a bullet passing through my shoulder, I can handle some stitches." Brittany gave me a smile and a wink. I couldn't help but lean down and capture her lips in mine. "Ok, then let's get started." As I started to clean the wounds I couldn't but to think of what would have happened if this was worse.

'_Oh Britt, you have to be more careful. I can't lose you.'_


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's note: So, I'm trying to make this as realistic as possible but, the military aspect of the story may not be entirely right! (Although I have been doing my research: Family who are ex-military, Google, etc.) Also, I changed up the "format" or whatever with the way I'm writing the conversations. They're more spread out instead of being in continued paragraphs. Let me know what you think. Thanks again for reading and reviewing! **

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><p>One hour, and fourteen stitches later, Brittany's shoulder was finally patched and she was lying down on her bed. I went and got both off us breakfast and when I got back to our tent, Brittany had my <em>How To: Removing Bullets &amp; Dressing Bullet Wounds <em>textbook opened in her lap which I assumed she was reading before she fell asleep. _'I never noticed how cute she is when she's sleeping, even with that little bit of drool coming out of her mouth.' _I smiled and giggled quietly.

I know she needed sleep but, she also needed to eat to regain the strength from losing so much blood. I put down both bowls of oatmeal on my desk, lifted the book slowly out of her lap placing it next to the bowls, and sat on the bed next her. Placing my hand on her uninjured shoulder, I gently rubbed up and down her arm to wake her up.

"Hey Britt Britt, wake up," I combed my fingers through her hair. "I brought you some breakfast. I know you want to sleep but, I want you to eat a little something and then you can sleep the rest of the day." She stirred slightly, turning her body so her arm wound up around my waist, and nestled her head into my lap. She yawned, opened her eyes, and blinked a few times to get used to the light that was now entering the tent. I stroked her hair and then rubbed my thumb across her cheek. After her eyes adjusted to the light, Brittany looked up at me and grinned, happy to see that I was looking at her.

"Hey sleepy head." I leaned down and gave her a lingering kiss on her forehead.

"Hey beautiful…" Brittany spoke up while closing her eyes.

Her eyes shot open and her body tensed when she realized what she just said. I felt her gulp nervously against my leg, worried she shouldn't have said that. I chose not to say anything about it and instead, leaned down again and kissed her lips. Thankfully, she relaxed. I was definitely alright with her calling me that. It felt more intimate in our…whatever we had.

'_She's not my girlfriend…yet. I want her to be but, I don't want things to get awkward between us if she says no. I'll talk to her later when she's feeling better.'_

I was about to pull away from our kiss when the hand Brittany had wrapped around my waist made its way to the back of my neck, pulling me deeper into the kiss. Our tongues battled for dominance and just before things started getting too heated, remembering I was here to take care of her right now, not sleep with her, I kissed her cheek and then her forehead, ultimately breaking away. As much as I wanted to kiss Brittany and do more with her, she lost a lot of energy along with blood last night and she needed to eat and sleep.

I stood from the bed and went to my desk, grabbing her bowl of oatmeal. She rolled onto her side and propped her head up on her hand to stare at me, relaxing her other arm. The stitches wouldn't rip unless she put a lot of strain on her muscles, but I knew she was in pain. I started to hand her the bowl while ignoring her annoyed groans and complaints to me from breaking our kiss.

"Come on, stop complaining and sit up. You need to eat."

She fell back onto the thin mattress, throwing her arm across her face dramatically and peaking at through the crease of her elbow.

"But Saaannn…I don't want any of that nasty oatmeal. We've been eating that every morning for months! And I'm not even hungry so, you should just like, put that bowl down and come over here so I can kiss you some more."

She gave me the dorkiest, most adorable grin ever.

"As cute as you are and as tempting as that is, you need to eat. So sit up and eat. Please?"

She laughed and took her arm off her face.

I groaned and threw my head back rolling my eyes. "Now what? It's oatmeal…it's not that funny."

She grabbed my free hand and pulled me towards her to sit back down. Although I just wanted her to eat, I placed the bowl back down and gave in to her request.

"It's not the oatmeal silly, I just thought it was sweet how easily the way you called me cute rolled off your tongue."

I looked at her wide-eyed and tried to hide my blush.

'_Shit…' _"What? No, that can't be right. I never said that. You must be imagining things from all the blood you lost."

She saw right through my lie. There was no point in trying to hide it anymore and I hung my head in shame. She giggled and brought her hand to my chin to lift my head so I would look at her.

"Hey," she said as she cupped my face and ran her thumb over my cheek. "It's ok. I liked it."

Brittany smiled at me as I relaxed and leaned into her touch. I brought my hands up and took hers off of my cheek, bringing them to my lips to kiss her knuckles.

"Really?" I whispered, still so unsure. I didn't want to mess this up. I felt things for Brittany that I've never felt before. Her touch was like a fire so hot it felt cold. Her eyes pierced me every time like an assassin's dagger, never missing its target. Her lips…oh god. I'd die a million times just to look at the damn things. Kissing them is almost like being wrapped in hundreds of fluffy blankets on a cold night during the winter, surrounded by your favorite pillows with a cup of the world's greatest hot chocolate warming your hands while listening to the smoothest jazz. Only actually kissing Brittany is ten times better.

Brittany sat up slowly and put her arm around my shoulders, pulling me into her. I rested my head against her shoulder, but pulled away when she grimaced at the pain it caused.

"Sorry." I said, immediately pulling away.

"No, it's alright. Just put your head here." I placed my head higher on her shoulder and closer to her throat.

"You worry too much San," She started to rub her hand up and down my arm. Instinctively, I closed my eyes to the touch. "It's not a bad thing to be sweet you know. It's ok to let your walls down, especially around me. You know I would never judge you. Actually, I really enjoy listening to you and learning about the things you talk about. I just wish you did it more often."

"Is that why you were reading my textbook?" I was curious. Was she reading it to learn about some of the things I did? We never really discussed it before.

"Well, not at first. I was reading it so I could fix my shoulder. I didn't want you to find out about it because I knew you'd worry about me when you should be worrying about other things and people."

She had a point. Brittany has always been my number one concern since we met and I understand why she wouldn't want to tell me. I've always been protective of her. If she got a paper cut, I'd probably make sure she was alright before checking on another soldier.

"But then," she added, "when I actually started reading and learning about it, I thought it was interesting. Maybe one day we could sit down at night like we used to and we can talk about your doctor stuff and other things too."

I kept my eyes closed, humming in satisfaction. "That's a good idea Britt. I kind of miss our nightly talks. I guess we're just so tired lately and we know so much about each other that we just stopped doing them."

She squeezed me tighter to her. I never realized how much I enjoyed being around Brittany all this time until she said, "You know, when we get out of here, I'd really like to show you where I went and what I did as a kid. We lived in the same town for so long and never knew each other because my parents kept me so sheltered. Then we can hang out all the time, with no interruptions from people trying to kill us, and just live our lives."

When she said that, I shuddered._ 'When we get out of here. All the time. No interruptions. Live our lives.' _All of those phrases played over and over in my head like a record.

'_A life outside of the military? One that didn't suck? A life with Brittany? Hells yes. I think I'd be perfectly fine with that.'_

"I think that's a great idea too, Britt. Then I can show you where I used to go all Lima Heights on people." She giggled at me. "And then I can take you to the BEST restaurant in the world. Like for real, they have the greatest breadsticks ever. I always get the basket refilled like, four times, and wind up pouring the fifth into my purse."

This time, she let out a full blown laugh, shaking my body. It took her a few minutes to calm down. What can I say? I may have a slight addiction to those breadsticks.

She caught her breath, trying to stifle her giggles. "If the one and only Santana Lopez is that obsessed with it, then it must be good. What's the name of this place because I have to go."

"Well don't worry Britt Britt, when we get out of here, I'm going to show you all the things you had to miss because of your damn parents. And it's called Breadstix."

"Oh my gosh, of course it is. Why didn't I see that coming? It should have been obvious! Is it in Lima?"

"Yep. It's right around the corner of McKinley where I went to high school."

"I wish I had gone to school with you San. I'm sure we would've been the greatest of friends then. We could've gone to the movies and taken trips together. And of course we would go to Breadstix…every Friday night."

That sounded amazing. But one thing made me curious. "Why every Friday?"

"Oh…because that would be our date night." She didn't hesitate when she spoke

It went quiet, both of us basking in the comfortable silence. Brittany was so sure of everything she said so I just went along with it. Her confidence is one of the things I love most about her.

Being that Brittany seemed to have some energy, oatmeal or not, I figured it was now or never to have the talk.

Now, I've never been one to get nervous. In fact, I'm usually the one people are nervous about. But, once again, Brittany has turned my world upside down, making everything opposite for me when I'm around her. So, I take a deep breath, turn my head just a little to place an open mouthed kiss on her neck, and sit up so I can look in her eyes for probably one of the most important, life changing conversations I will ever have.

I looked at her for a few seconds. She has a look on her face, wondering why I just broke the moment we were sharing but she didn't speak. I took another deep breath.

'_Well, now or never I suppose.'_

"Can I talk to you about something?" I asked nervously as I looked down, noting the way my words caught in my throat.

She looked at me curiously. "Of course. You can talk to me about anything."

"Ok just…it's a lot alright? So unless it's really important, let me finish before you say anything. This is difficult enough already."

Brittany grabbed my hand, rubbing her thumb softly over my knuckles. I looked up into her eyes. She gave my hand a soft squeeze and gave me a quick nod telling me to go on. I looked down again and at our hands. I made a bold move and intertwined our fingers. She didn't object.

One more deep breath.

"Brittany I…I um…" I stuttered. I was sweating bullets and all I wanted to do was run out of this tent and forget about this. But I knew it had to be done.

"Brittany I…I really like you. I've like you for a long time. I don't really know when I started to; I just know that it happened. You're so sweet to me and you're the first person that's ever treated me like I was worth something to them. I'm not sure what it is but, I can never get mad at you. Somehow whenever I'm around you, all my anger disappears and I feel like I'm floating. You make me a better person. All those years at home I felt like I was no one, and then I met you, and I became a someone again. You deserve the world Brittany and I really want to be the one that gives it to you if you'd let me. So, I guess the whole purpose of this to ask you if you would-"

"Yes."

My head shot up. I hadn't realized I said all of that while looking at out intertwined hands. I also hadn't realized that she started crying.

"Yes?" I questioned her. Making sure she knew what she was saying yes to.

"Yes Santana, I would love to be your girlfriend."

I couldn't hold back anymore. I lunged forward and connected our lips. I've had girlfriends in the past but, none felt as real and as satisfying as this one did. Brittany was the girl of my dreams, and I wasn't afraid to admit it either.

'_Finally, things are going my way for once.'_

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><p><strong>Author's note: Ahhhhh FINALLY. I mean, you knew it was going to happen. Things are going to get intense in some of the chapters to come. Unsure how many chapters I'm going to write though. I was planning on doing a Brittany POV of this chapter as the next chapter just to see what she was thinking through everything that's happened so far. What do you think? Oh! And if any of you have any ideas for upcoming chapters in this story or any stories you might want to see, feel free to let me know! I'm open to any suggestion! Thanks! <strong>


	5. Chapter 5

**WARNING! If you are not into two girls having sexy lady time, DO NOT READ.**

**But I mean, you are reading a Brittana story. Of course it was bound to happen. ;) **

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><p>March 25th 2013<p>

It's been a little over a week since I asked Brittany to be my girlfriend. May I just say, things are going pretty wonderfully. On the day that I asked her, we spent the rest of the night talking like we used, basically about anything and everything. I cuddled up next to her and she asked me some questions about what it's like being a doctor and why I wanted to be one.

Her shoulder had healed perfectly and she was back to doing her tasks that Sylvester had saved for her while she was resting.

Quinn's shoulder had also healed nicely. She and Puck have been spending a lot of time with one another lately. Whenever I see them around camp, they're always walking side by side, deep in conversation. They've been eating together every day and have even been sitting around his camp fire at night, singing songs together along with Finn and Sam, the other guy in his tent, while he plays guitar. I'm very impressed with the way Puck has been taking care of Quinn. Whenever he notices she's in pain or her shoulder is irritating her, he immediately finds me to let me know. Puck's a good guy.

Two days after Brittany became my girlfriend, I decided I needed to tell some people. Well, I wanted to keep it a secret but, Brittany insisted and I just couldn't say no. So, the first person I told was Rachel, being that she has two gay dads. I figured if anyone will be easy to talk to about accepting someone who's gay, it'd be her.

After telling Rachel, I immediately went and found Quinn, who, of course was with Puck. I wanted to tell them both separately but, that obviously wasn't going to happen. I wound up telling them both at the same time and I started getting nervous when they didn't say anything. They looked at each other and then looked back at me grinning.

"Well it's about time! What the fuck took you so long?"

"Puck, be nice. You know it was probably hard for her to tell us. Just be glad she finally did."

I paused and looked back and forth between the two of them and then, it clicked.

"Wait, what the fu-? You both knew and neither of you said anything!?" I was pissed.

Quinn stood up and walked over to me, standing in front of me. She grabbed my shoulders and held me at arm's length.

"Oh honey, of course we knew. Well, not that you were actually together but, we knew you liked each other. We knew you would tell us when you were ready."

"But how did you both know? I wasn't that obvious…was I?"

Quinn looked over her shoulder at Puck where he was laughing. She looked back at me a gave me a _"yes it was very obvious" _look. I hung my head and stared at the ground.

'_What did I do or say that made it so obvious?'_

Like she was reading my mind, Quinn gave my shoulders a little squeeze so I would look up at her.

"You're not exactly careful with your leering, S. Nor are you usually the sweetheart you are to her around us."

"That's not true, I'm a nice person." She gave me a look when I said this. I blushed and added, "Ok well I'm nicer to you guys than I am with everyone else."

"Although I do agree with you on that, the way you care for Brittany is one hundred times more than you would for any of us and three hundred times more than for anyone else. It's not a bad thing, S. We're happy for you and we aren't surprised that you finally had the guts to ask her out."

Quinn gave me a small smile. She always knew what I needed to hear. I looked over her shoulder at Puck who was giving me a thumbs up. Although sometimes I felt like killing these two, I knew they would always be there for me. They became the family I had always wanted.

"Thanks guys. It really helps that you're supporting Brittany and I. She means so much to me. I lo-…like her. A lot." I blushed and tried to cover up my slip up. Puck was oblivious as always and started strumming his guitar. Quinn on the other hand, has always seen right through me.

"Hey Puck, I'm going to walk San back to her tent alright? I'll be back." He gave her a shrug and she grabbed my hand, starting to walk us towards my tent. There was one reason and one reason only that Quinn would want to walk me back. She heard my slip up and wanted to talk about it.

'_Shit. Way to go Lopez.'_

"So S, how is it with Brittany? You two are cute together." She was easing her way into the conversation but I knew what she was leading up to.

"Just can it Q and cut to the chase. Why did you really want to walk with me?" She looked at me out of the corner of her eye.

"You care for Brittany a lot, don't you?"

"Yeah…"

"Do you want to be her shoulder to cry on?"

"Of course."

"You want to give her the world and make her see how much she means to you, correct?"

"Absolutely Quinn, I want to give her everything, everything her parents never let her have. A friend she can trust with all her secrets, someone that won't judge her. I want to show her what it feels like to have someone who truly cares about her…like the way she cares about me. She's the best thing that has ever happened to me Q."

"Wow. I've never heard you talk about someone like this before. I didn't know you had it in you." She elbowed my side and laughed. I pushed her and rolled my eyes, shaking my head but, not hiding the smile that formed on my lips. "She must be pretty special if she has Santana Lopez wrapped around her finger."

"You have no idea Q. She knows me better than I know myself sometimes."

After I said this, Quinn stopped walking. I turned and gave her a questioning look. She didn't say a word at first, but I knew she wanted to say something. She was just trying to find the right way to say it.

I shifted my weight on my feet, fidgeting from the way she looked me up and down.

"What?" I asked her, now feeling self-conscious. I couldn't take the tension she was putting between us.

"…You love her. Don't you Santana?"

I looked at the ground and blushed but never missed a beat.

"Yes."

I spoke so quietly, Quinn had to lean in just to hear it, and she was standing a foot away from me. I was caught off guard when she wrapped her arms around me and pulled me into a tight hug.

"Oh my god, I'm so happy for you, S. This is a big deal!"

I hugged her back, thankful that she was so understanding.

The rest of our walk to my tent was spent in a comfortable silence. She held my hand, swinging it between the two of us. Every couple of minutes, she would turn her head towards me and smile, so proud and grateful that I trusted her enough to share my relationship with her.

When we got back to my tent, she stopped me outside.

"You and Brittany should come over to Puck's tent one night. We can all hang out and have some fun. Finn has been feeling better and I know you haven't seen him since you let him out of the medical tent. He really wants to thank you for saving his life."

"Alright, I'll let Brittany know. Thank again, Q."

I hugged her, not saying what I was thankful to her for but, she already knew. She left without another word and I walked into my tent to find a sleeping Brittany, sprawled out on her bed. I curled up next to her and, even in her sleep, she wrapped her arms around me and held me close to her. I fell asleep in seconds.

The next night, Brittany and I found ourselves making our way across camp towards Puck's tent. It didn't take long to get there and as soon as we did, Puck stood up from his seat next to Quinn and walked over to greet us. He gave us both a hug and when he pulled away, he gave Brittany a knowing wink after looking at our intertwined hands. I punched him in the arm with my free hand and he faked the pain as he went to go sit back down beside Quinn.

"Hey you two, take a seat. We were just about to get started." Quinn spoke up and gave us a smile.

I took a seat on the log Puck pulled over for us next to Brittany. She put her arm around me and just as I nestled into her neck, I felt a tap on my shoulder. Turning my head, I saw it was Finn.

"Doctor Lopez, I'm sorry to interrupt but, could I talk to you for a minute?"

"Sure Finn but, only if you NEVER call me Doctor Lopez again. I think we know each other enough for you to just call me Santana ok?"

I stood up and as I was walking away with Finn to go talk in private, I heard Quinn whisper to Brittany.

"Wow. I don't know what you did or how you did it but, keep doing whatever you're doing Brittany. I don't think Santana has ever been so nice before."

Brittany laughed and I gave Quinn a look over my shoulder, silencing her immediately.

Finn and I walked around to the back of the tent where there were more logs and took a seat, motioning for me to sit next to him. Finn was a nice guy. He was a very tall, awkward, always has a weird half smirk across his face, but a nice guy none the less. I sat next to him and waited for him to speak.

"I just wanted to properly say thank you Santana."

"It was no problem Finn. It's my job remember?"

He looked at me. "No, it's so much more than that. I asked Rachel what had happened after I woke up the first time after my surgery. She told me that I should've died on that table. If it wasn't for you, I wouldn't be sitting here right now. Thank you."

He gave me a full smile and I couldn't help but to lean in and hug him.

"You're welcome. I'd do it again if I had to."

I pulled away from him and stood up.

"Come on, let's get back to everyone. They're probably waiting for us."

"No it's alright, you go on ahead Santana. I think I'm gonna sit back here for a few and just think."

"Alright suit yourself." I starting walking away but paused and turned back to him. "Just for the record," he looked up at me, questioningly, "you should really be thanking Rachel. I probably shouldn't be telling you this but, she was almost in tears, begging me to do everything I could to save your life. So, actually, if it wasn't for her, you might not be here. Just something to think about."

He looked at me, thinking it over before I added, "Oh…and if you want to thank her properly, she's probably still over in the medical tent."

I gave him a small smile and a wink before turning on my heel and making my way back to the front of the tent. When I got back, Brittany, Quinn, and Puck were all finishing a song. I took my seat next to Brittany. She leaned over and asked how it went and I told her what Finn wanted to talk about.

"That's so sweet San." She kissed me on the cheek.

"Alright you lovebirds, how about you give us a song Lopez." Puck looked over at me, wiggling his guitar. I had to think. There were so many songs that I love and it was hard to pick one. I sat for a minute thinking until-

'_YES! That's the perfect song.'_

I motioned Puck over to me, not wanting to leave the warmth of Brittany's arms. He kneeled in front of me so I could whisper in his ear. Hoping he knew the song, I told him my request and why I wanted to sing it. He gave me a smile.

"Yeah, I know that one and I think that is the perfect song." The song is usually played on a piano but I was grateful he actually knew it on guitar. He stood up and made his way back over to Quinn where he started to play the opening chords of the song. Quinn gave me a shocked look from across the fire, surprised that I was going to reveal this to Brittany in front of her and Puck. Brittany turned to me with a huge grin plastered to her face. It was one of her favorite songs.

I sat up from her grasp, pulled her hands into my lap, and looked into her eyes, beginning to sing:

_For you, there'll be no more crying,_

_For you, the sun will be shining,_

_And I feel that when I'm with you,_

_It's alright, I know it's right_

Her eyes were already starting to tear. She once told me that every time she hears this song, she cries. She was right.

_To you, I'll give the world_

_To you, I'll never be cold_

'_Cause I feel that when I'm with you,_

_It's alright, I know it's right._

When her first tear fell, I lifted my hand to her face, wiping the tear away with the pad of my thumb. I knew the next stanza of the song was coming up, the stanza that was the reason I chose to sing this song to her.

_And the songbirds are singing,_

_Like they know the score,_

_And I love you, I love you, I love you,_

_Like never before._

Brittany leaned into my touch and closed her eyes. She brought her hand up to mine and cupped it. I loved the way she made me feel. I loved her.

_And I wish you all the love in the world,_

_But most of all, I wish it from myself._

I was crying now alongside Brittany. This girl sitting in front of me, this girl from the same town I was from, though we never met, was now sitting in front of me as I poured my heart out to her. This girl was sitting in front of me as I told her I loved her.

_And the songbirds keep singing,_

_Like they know the score,_

_And I love you, I love you, I love you,_

_Like never before, like never before, like never before._

As Puck finished the last chords of the song, Brittany opened her tear stained eyes a=to look at me. _'She's so beautiful.' _I thought before I said, "You're so beautiful." I wiped away another tear.

Brittany didn't speak. I was confused when she stood up and took my hand, gesturing me to stand up with her. She looked over to Puck and Quinn and said, "We'll see you guys tomorrow, have a goodnight." And started walking away, dragging me behind her. I looked over my shoulder and saw Puck smirk at me.

"Get some Lopez!" He yelled after me and Quinn slapped his arm. My eyes went wide for a moment before I looked back at Brittany who was walking in front of me, leading us back to our tent. I smirked, knowing what was about to happen.

We got into the tent and before the flap ever had a chance to close behind us, her lips were on mine. It was frantic but, unlike our kisses in the past, this one seemed to be filled with passion and dare I say it…love.

Brittany took off my military coat and tossed it onto her desk, knocking over some books in the process. She backed me up until my legs hit the frame of her small bed and my knees buckled, forcing me to sit down. She straddled my hips and ran her fingers through my hair. I moaned into her mouth as I brought my hands to her hips. She took that as a queue to keep going and pushed me back slowly until I was lying flat on my back with her full weight lying on top of me. Our kisses slowed but deepened. Her tongue swiped at my lower lip and I immediately granted permission to her request. We stayed like that, kissing for a few minutes until her hands started running up my sides and under my tank top. Before we went any further, I had to know what she thought. I broke our kiss and she opened her eyes.

"What's wrong?" She asked, looking a little disappointed that I stopped.

"Nothing's wrong, I just wanted to tell you that I meant it."

She propped herself up on her elbows. "Meant what?"

I looked away from her bashfully. I didn't have a song to say it this time. "That I love you. I meant it. I didn't just say it to get into your pants." I chuckled and blushed at my smooth choice of word.

I looked back up to find Brittany staring at me, once again with a huge grin on her face.

"I love you too, San."

And with that, she leaned back down and smiled into our kiss. I wrapped my arms around her back, hugging her to my body. Her hands ran under my tank top again and stopped at the bottom of my sports bra. She lifted my shirt higher, silently asking me to sit up so she could take it off. Only breaking our kiss to take off my shirt, and hers somehow, she went to lay me back down when I stopped her and tugged on her sports bra. She silently gave in to my request and lifted her arms. It was difficult not stare at her perfect body. Each and every muscle had definition. Her abs were muscular and her breasts were round and perky. She blushed when she caught me staring.

I leaned into her neck and kissed it before making my way down to her chest to suck a pink nipple into my mouth. Brittany let out a loud groan and drifted her hand to the back of my head, pulling me closer to her.

Her hips started to grind into me when I kissed my way across her chest to give her other nipple the same treatment. She gasped at the sensation and pulled my hair. Her breathing was heavy. She moved her hand down to my sports bra and started tugging on it.

"No. Fair." She breathed. "Off."

I lifted my arms and she pulled my sports bra off. Before I could reattach my lips, Brittany pushed me down forcefully by my shoulders and laid on top of me. We both moaned into each other's mouths when our breasts collided together for the first time. We kissed heatedly and I wrapped my legs around her waist. I attempted to flip us but, she grabbed my wrists and pinned me to the mattress.

"Don't even think about it." She hissed.

She attacked my neck and my body arched into hers. I started to roll my hips up, needing more friction. She ran her tongue down my neck and between my breasts. My hand shot up to the back of her head and I pulled her into me like she did before. She grabbed both of my breasts and gave them a squeeze before running them down, across my stomach and between our bodies. They stopped at the top of my pants, searching for the button and zipper. When she got them to release, Brittany slowly began pulling my pants down, giving me time to object if I wanted to.

Once they were in the pile with our shirts, she went to lie back on top of me. I stopped her with a hand to her shoulder and a smirk on my face.

"Uh uh..." I slid my hands down to the waistband of her pants and pulled. "Off."

Her eyes went wide and she quickly unbuttoned her pants, discarding them to the pile.

"Much better." I said. Biting my lip and pulling her by the neck, back on to my lips.

We battled for dominance. I tried to flip us and failed once again. I was used to being in charge in my past relationships. This was new to me. The way Brittany pinned my hands above my head and took control was so hot.

Her lips were so soft as they slid against mine. She started to kiss her way down my neck, over my chest, and across my stomach, licking all the way down until stopping just above the waistband of my underwear.

I shivered. "Fuck…god Brittany."

Her fingers toyed with the elastic. I couldn't take it anymore.

"Come one Britt. Please. Stop teasing, I need you."

She didn't have to be told twice, although she still took her time. She hooked her fingers into the top of my underwear and pulled them down agonizingly slow. I should've been embarrassed at how wet I was for her but, I was too far gone to care anymore. She took them off the rest of the way and settled between my legs. She grabbed my legs and brought them up so they were resting over her shoulders.

Brittany started trailing open-mouthed kisses across my inner thighs, every few kisses getting closer and closer to my hot center. I shuddered with every kiss. Every moan she produced shook through my body. She was still teasing me and I hated and loved every second of it.

"Ugh…come on Britt please, I can't-…holy shit. Oh _fuck_…Brittany…"

I threw my head back against the mattress and arched into her mouth as her lips connected with my core. She placed long strokes with her tongue through my folds, pressing harder each time. My hand went to the back of her head, my fingers tangling into her hair. She wrapped her hands around my thighs to keep me from shaking. Then, after a few minutes, I felt one hand release my thigh and drift between my legs. Never stopping her tongue, Brittany ran a finger through my folds and stopped right outside my entrance. My hips bucked wanting more. She slowly pushed her index finger into me and I thought I was going to release right there and then. She pulled out after a few strokes and just as I was starting to complain, she pushed two fingers into me.

"Oh dios mío Brittany, no se detienen. Se siente tan bien."

My body shook with want. Brittany set a tempo with her fingers and tongue. I urged her to go faster. After only a few minutes, my breaths became ragged and my body started to shake. Brittany knew just what to do to push me over the edge. She began pumping her fingers faster, sucking on my clit in the process. When she curled her fingers one, two, three times, I lost it. All control from my body was gone and I was writhing beneath, putting my arm over my mouth and biting my bicep to keep my moans of pleasure for traveling too far.

Brittany slowed her fingers, dragging out the length of my orgasm. She pulled out and I let out a deep breath I didn't know I was holding. She kissed her way back up my body and stopped at my lips. Our eyes met and we shared a knowing smile. I connected our lips and could taste myself on her. When Brittany pulled away, she moved to lie next to me and put her head on my chest, resting her arm across my stomach.

"That was….wow…"

She laughed at me nestling herself further into me. I wrapped my arm over her shoulder and kissed her head. Then, after a minute or two of resting, I rolled over quickly so I was straddling her and I had her hands pinned above her head. Her eyes went wide and her mouth dropped open in surprise. I smirked and leaned down so my mouth was right next to her ear.

"You didn't think we were done, did you?" I spoke and dragged my tongue over the shell of her ear. She shuddered beneath me, before I got serious for a second.

"I love you, Britt."

"I love you too."

Just as I started dragging my hands down her sides to finish what we started, three gunshots were heard coming from across camp.

I rolled off of Brittany and we both started shuffling through clothing to get dressed when the sirens were sound.

Brittany looked at me. Her expression in combat mode but her eyes were scared. If I wasn't aware of what was going on, I'd assume she saw a ghost. When I had finished pulling my coat on, Brittany had already flipped her mattress up, uncovering a small trunk I had never seen before. Putting it on her desk, she unlatched the lock and shuffled through its contents. She pulled out multiple items, putting one of each item into two separate bags. I didn't see any of the items before she handed me a bag, but she explained to me that each bag had the same items in it while I draped it across my back.

"I've had these for a while. I started making this kit when I first met you, adding things here and there. I wanted to be able to help and protect you always, even if we were to get separated."

The last four items she pulled out of the trunk I saw: two semi-automatic hand guns and two Kabar army knives. She walked over and put them into my outstretched hands while she gave me instructions.

"Wrap the knife holster around you thigh. Keep this gun in your hand at all times. Keep the safety off so you're always ready but keep it pointed down at the ground so you don't accidentally kill one of us. Remember all you have to do is poin-"

"Point and shoot, I know Brittany."

More gunshots and shouting came from outside the tent. It was starting to get closer. We both looked towards the front flaps of the tent, not wanting to leave. I took a step and was stopped by a hand on my shoulder.

"If we get separated Santana, I will find you."

My jaw clamped shut, holding my emotions at bay. I wrapped her in a tight hug.

"I love you. So much."

"I love you too. Come on, we have to go and get to safety. There's a hidden, underground bunker I found on a walk a few years ago about a mile or two up the side trail. All we have to do is get passed the main road and we'll be golden."

"But, what if we get separated from everyone else?"

"I don't care about anyone else. My main concern is you, San."

A bullet whizzed through the material of our tent, just missing the two of us. We both hit the ground.

'_This was not how the night was supposed to turn out.'_

* * *

><p><strong>Song: Songbird by Eva Cassidy.<strong>

**Spanish translation:** "**Oh my god, Brittany. Don't stop. It feels so good."**

**Author's note: I told you it was gonna get crazy! Oh my god this is so much fun to write. Thanks for all your support! **


	6. Chapter 6

"Come on! We have to get out of here now!"

Brittany grabbed my hand and we bolted from the tent and into a sea of soldiers running frantically towards the main road and weapon sheds. We ran towards an over turned table and ducked for cover, the trail to the bunker in our line of sight.

"Britt, wait! We have to find Puck, Finn, Quinn, and Rachel. They can come with us. We can't leave them behind."

She thought for a moment. I might have been her main concern but, they were our friends. We couldn't just leave them.

"Alright, but stay right on me ok? If we get separated, I want you to get out of here as soon as possible, follow that trail, and get to the bunker."

"Brittany, I am not going to leave you behind and besides I don't even know where the fucking bunker is!"

I had to yell over the open fire buzzing through the air.

"Trust me," she said, "you'll know it when you see it. Now let's get moving before things go from bad to worse. Remember, stay right on me."

She scooted her body to get a better angle to look towards Puck's tent. When she gave me the all clear, we both sprinted out from our cover and towards the tent. We stopped halfway behind a truck when we saw Puck run out of his tent, trailing Quinn behind and going towards the wreck hall while Finn ran to the medical tent, presumably to find Rachel. Brittany turned to me.

"Alright, who are we going after first?"

"I think we should find Puck and Quinn. Then we'll go get Finn and Rachel at the medical tent and I can grab some supplies while I'm there."

Brittany leaned around the corner of the truck looking for the safest route towards Puck and Quinn. Just as we were about to move, Pvt Anderson ran towards us from across the small field. He was only a few feet in front of us when a bullet passed through his heart. He dropped to his knees, dead. Before I had time to register what had just happened, Brittany's gun was smoking from the barrel and the shooter was lying lifeless on the ground.

"Come on!" She grabbed my hand and we ran out, towards the wreck hall.

Nobody else seemed to be there. Thank god. It was deserted, food left uneaten on the tables and everything was scattered. We walked through quietly, our guard never faltering. There was a gunshot sounded in one of the backrooms followed by a clang of metal.

"They must be in armory room. I just hope it's Puck and Quinn."

We made our way towards the short hallway where the gym and armory were held. She gave me a quick nod after approaching the door before she kicked it open, our guns at the ready.

'_Holy shit…'_

"What the fuck happened in here?" I dropped the gun to my side watching as Puck holstered his gun after shooting the lock and tearing open a gun safe while Quinn was pulling her knife out of the body on the floor.

"This guy followed us in here. I was standing behind the door, out of sight while Puck worked on getting the safe open, in case someone wanted to sneak up. Lo and behold, that's just wanted happened. This poor guy never saw it coming." Quinn gestured towards the dead man on the floor.

"Alright everyone grab a gun or two and let's get out of this hell hole." Puck stood back from the safe holding two of the many M42 submachine guns. I holstered my pistol and grabbed two guns, wrapping one across my back and holding the other. Everyone did the same except for Brittany who took three. Brittany explained our plan to them before we left for the medical tent.

When we stepped outside, the fire fight had moved farther down the road and away from camp. Having no distractions, we made it to the tent easily. Inside, however, had been destroyed. Beds were overturned, supplies were scattered, glass was broken, and through all that, one thing stood out to me.

"Rachel!" I shouted as I ran towards Finn, jumping over beds and useless supplies. He was crouched over her, attempting to lift one of the thick, heavy support beams for the tent that had collapsed on top of her. She was almost unconscious.

"S'ntana?" I knelt next to her, pulling my coat off to lie under her head. She had a cut running down the side of her face and her arm looked broken.

"Puck, Brittany, Quinn! Come over here, we need to get this off of her, now!"

The five of us surrounded Rachel and grabbed onto to the support beam.

"Alright everybody lift on three. Quinn, when we get it off of her, let go and pull her out, we'll be able to hold it. Alright, one…two…three!"

We all lifted and Rachel was released from underneath the pole.

"Grab her, Q!" Quinn let go and pulled Rachel out from underneath. Once she was a safe distance away, we dropped the pole. I went over and crouched beside Quinn where she was holding a now unconscious Rachel in her lap.

"Puck, see if there some kind of rag or something I can use to try to stop the blood. Britt, check over in that cabinet right there and grab me a box of small IV bags and a syringe."

Quinn looked up at me.

"You're going to give her an IV right now?"

"She needs it, Q. I've learned my fair share of 'on-the-go' medical aid. I can wrap it around her arm in a sling. It'll work; we just have to get to the bunker as soon as possible so I can give her proper treatment."

Brittany and Puck brought me the items I asked for. I wrapped the rag as best as I could around Rachel's head and inserted the IV into her good arm. I was just about help lift Rachel off of Quinn, when Brittany spoke up.

"Hey guys, do you hear that?"

We all went quiet.

"Hear what?" I asked, standing up and looking around at everyone.

"Exactly. I don't hear anything."

Brittany was right. There were no sounds of fire coming from outside anymore.

"Alright everyone, keep your guard up. Here, Finn." Brittany handed him one of the submachine guns. "San, is she ok to travel?" She asked, nodding her head towards Rachel.

"Yeah. She's all set. I have the IV connected but, someone's going to have to carry her. She's still weak and unconscious from the blood loss. Her arm is broken so whoever carries her needs to be careful. We don't want to make it worse. It could be hours before she wakes up."

"I'll carry her." Finn spoke as he walked over to Quinn and lifted Rachel off of her and into his arms, bridal style.

I gave him a quick nod before looking towards Brittany.

"Britt, grab a bag and fill it with any non-contaminated medical supplies. I'll do the same. God knows we're gonna need it. Hey, where did Puck go?"

We all stopped what we were doing and looked around the tent.

"He ran back to the wreck hall. He wanted to grab some food for us." Quinn said.

"Why the hell did he go alone!?" My temper flared.

"San, chill out. He'll be ok. Puck may have a thick skull but, he knows what he's doing."

"Fine, but if he's not back here by the time we are done filling these bags, I'm going to freak out."

As if on cue, I was placing the last package of bandages into my bag, when Puck appeared in the tent, clutching his shoulder.

"What happened?" I immediately walked over to him, noticing the huge gash along the left side of his chest. I lifted his arm and started wrapping his chest in a bandage, wanting to stop the bleeding as soon as possible.

"There were three guys in there. My guess was they were searching for their unlucky friend that Quinn took out. I had a smoke bomb on me, so I set it off and hit the floor. They didn't have guns on them surprisingly, only knives. I took out two of them but the third got a lucky shot on me."

As I was finishing the wrap around Puck, I looked towards Brittany, Quinn, and Finn. All four of them had something in common.

"That must be why they're called 'The Heartless'." They all gave me the same confused expression so, I explained. "With each of your situations, your worst wound was made to the left side of your upper body. When Anderson was shot," I looked towards Brittany, "the shooter didn't aim for his head like others usually would, he aimed for his heart. That's why they're called 'The Heartless'. They always aim for the heart."

"That makes sense. That's why Brittany, Finn, and I were shot in the left shoulder, and why Puck now has a cut there. They were aiming for our hearts."

"Alright guys let's get going. We can talk more about this in the safety of the bunker."

When we stepped outside of the tent, there was an eerie silence that hung in the air. Tents were on fire, trucks were overturned, and bodies littered the ground.

"Everyone stay quiet and stay low. Keep your eyes open and if there's any sign of movement, take cover immediately." Brittany whispered her orders to us.

We made our way across the field and were just about at the trail when Brittany stopped in her tracks, staring at a mangled body lying face down in the dirt with a very slight sign of life. She knelt beside them and dropped her gun, flipping the body onto their back. It was Sylvester.

"P-Pierce?" General Sylvester coughed, spitting blood onto the ground next to her.

"Yes, it's me ma'am. Wh-what happened?"

"There were…too many…for me." She spoke and clutched her chest. That's when I noticed the gashes along her torso. "I couldn't take them all. Once the first got a lucky shot, it was over."

She pulled her hand away from her chest revealing two bullet holes right beneath her color bone, just above her heart. I crouched next to her, seeing what I could to do get her to live. From what I could tell, the first bullet had just missed her heart but, the second went through the top of it. Not enough to kill her instantly but, enough to make her bleed out and die a slow, painful death. I gave Brittany a look and she understood.

"I know I'm gonna die Lopez so just give it up." She coughed up more blood. "Pierce, here take this. You're in charge now. Keep them safe and get home. Take this back to…" That's when General Sylvester's body went limp. She was gone.

Brittany stood up silently and I followed. She pocketed the letter that was handed to her and spoke up.

"Come on guys, we need to keep moving before they decide to come back looking for any survivors. Who knows how many others there are." Brittany walked away, never looking back.

We got to the trail and Brittany led the way. She told the rest of the group how she found it and what it was for. It was quiet between all of us for most of our hike. I looked around at everyone. We all had the same look of sadness, fear, and anger on our faces. Minutes turned to hours and before we knew it, we were there.

"Ok guys here we are. We all looked around, finding nothing except trees when I saw it. I grinned the first time since this morning.

"Is that-?"

"Yep, sure is." Brittany smirked and cut me off before I could finish my question. Carved into a tree a few feet in front of me was the word 'Cheerios'.

"I wanted to make sure you would be able to find it if you ever needed to. Come on, follow me. The entrance is right over here."

We all followed her passed the tree to a small cave hidden under a curtain of vines. We walked down the small, narrow corridor until we arrived at a beaten up wooden door. Brittany lifted the latch and pushed it open. We all stepped inside.

"Finn, follow me. Rachel can lay over here. There's enough space that San can set up whatever she needs to." Brittany said, leading Finn away from the rest of us.

When we stepped inside, we found ourselves in a small room. There was an old table pushed against the wall and next to it was a radio. There were three other rooms built off of this one. The first was a bunk room with five bunk beds lining the walls. The second was a storage room for food, weapons, and other supplies. (Empty, of course.) The last was a small dining room with a table and an extra bed placed against the back wall where Finn had placed Rachel.

"Whoa, this place is impressive. How did you find this again Britt?" I was curious. It was so hidden, it seemed impossible for someone to just stumble upon it.

"Um well…a year before you got here San, Sylvester gave me a secret training exercise. She led me out here to the woods and when we were about to start, we heard a group of those Heartless people patrolling the area. She led me further into the woods and we found this cave. Once we got inside, we started exploring it and we found this bunker. It hasn't been used since the 90's. She told me never to talk about it but, now that she's…gone, I guess there's no point in keeping it a secret anymore."

"Wait a second. This is where you disappeared to? You were both gone for like, three days. Nobody knew where you were." Quinn spoke up.

"Yeah, I know. I was stuck in here with her. But, beside the point, that's how I found this place."

"Huh. Well, we're all lucky that you found this place, Britt. But, as nice as it is, I don't particularly want to stay here long. Personally, I'm kind of sick of this country in general and I'd like to go home."

"Same. Africa's never really been my forte. Now, is there a way we can move this place around, so we can all get some privacy? We're probably going to be here for a while so, we might as well make it as comfortable as possible."

Quinn walked into the bunk room as Brittany followed and I went to take care of Rachel. They moved one bunk bed to each room so we were all separated. Finn was with Rachel, Quinn was with Puck, and I was with Brittany.

"Alright, this will do for now. We should only stay here until Rachel wakes up and is strong enough to travel. As soon as she is, we need to leave and get as far away from this area as possible. There should be a boating deport about thirty miles up the road. If we can get there, we can buy some tickets and we'll be on our way home." Brittany said as she came up behind me with Quinn and Puck next to her.

After I finished giving Rachel a proper IV as best as I could and bandaging her broken arm, Brittany followed me to our separate room to help unpack the rest of our supplies while Finn stayed with Rachel to keep an eye on her and Quinn went with Puck to finally get some much needed rest. I started to unpack the bag Brittany gave too me that morning in our tent, when she grabbed my hand and stopped me. I looked up at her.

"What?" I asked, confused as to why she didn't want me to unpack it.

"Leave it packed. Just in case."

"Ok, but I at least want to know what's in it."

"Trust me San, don't worry about it. Leave it packed and don't think about it unless you need it."

I gave her a skeptical look.

'_That's weird. But alright I guess…'_

After unpacking some of the food Puck was able to grab and the medical supplies, I went to go check on Rachel. Seeing that she was doing alright, I went back to my room, ready for some sleep. I didn't even know what time it was. All I knew was that I had been awake for at least twenty-four hours and I was exhausted. When I got there, Brittany was already laying down on the bottom bunk. I went to go climb the small ladder to the top bunk when I felt Brittany slap my leg.

"Hey! What was that for?" I said rubbing the pain away from my leg.

She giggled. "Sorry San. I was just trying to get your attention."

"Well, you definitely got it. What's up?" I asked as I hopped off the one step I climbed on the ladder to stand in front of her. She took my hand and pulled me closer so the front of my knees hit the bed. I took that as my cue and lifted my leg over her to straddle her as best I could without hitting my head on the top bunk.

"I was thinking that maybe…you could sleep down here with me? I mean you don't have to but, I'd like you too. I know it's small but it's about the same size as the beds we had at camp and we didn't have any trouble cuddling or anything. I just really want to hold you tonight because you're safe and well…I love you."

Brittany looked up at me bashfully, a crimson color flushing her cheeks. I smiled and leaned down to kiss her. It was soft and caring, but there was still passion behind it. I pulled back and rested my head on her chest while she wrapped her arms around my lower back.

"I love you, too." I whispered as I drifted off into my sleep.

'_I love you so much Brittany. You don't know how long I've waited for you.'_

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for all of your reviews so far! I'm really trying to stay on top of this story to get a new chapter out every few days but, I've so tired lately because of work and school. I definitely want to have this story done within the next week or so! Thanks again! <strong>


	7. Chapter 7

The next morning, I realized how horrible of an idea it was to fall asleep on Brittany like that. She still had her arms wrapped around my back and I knew as soon as I sat up I'd be in a tremendous amount of pain. It was either sit up slowly and try to work it out or just deal with it and sit up fast like ripping off a band-aid. I chose the latter. Wrong choice.

"HOLY FUU-AHHH-CK!" I screeched as I sat up, feeling my spine and neck crack from the pressure caused by sleeping.

"Santana! What happened?" Brittany woke instantly from my yelp and sat up, knocking our heads together and causing me to bang the back of my head into the bunk above us.

"OW! Shit, Brittany."

"Oh my god…sorry San." She brought her hand to the back of my head and started rubbing the spot I had hit.

"Ouch, ouch, ouch alright it's ok just…don't touch it." I shook my head away from her hand. She gave me a pout and dropped her hand to her side.

"Come on now, none of that. It just hurts." I poked her pout with my finger. She turned her head away from me and crossed her arms over her chest. I sighed and looked around, pretending to think about what I should do. I looked back at her and caught her staring at me out of the corner of her eye. She looked away again. I smirked a little, knowing the game she was playing. I put both my hands on the sides of her head and leaned down until my mouth was against her ear.

"Britt Britt…" I dragged out, letting my tongue glide against the shell of her ear. She shuddered.

"You know…I think some sweet lady kisses would help take the pain away." I kissed her neck. Her hands found my sides and her nails dug into me. I sucked on her pulse point then started trailing my way across her face in hopes of finding her lips. Just as I was about to kiss her, she turned her head to face the other side. So, I tried again and when she went to turn her head, I grabbed her face in my hand and forced her into my kiss. She didn't even try to resist.

"Hey, S? Is everything alright in he-whoa. Oh my god!"

'_Perfect timing Quinn…'_

I broke our kiss and looked up to see a flustered Quinn standing in the doorway with her hands covering her eyes. I might've been a little embarrassed to be caught straddling Brittany's waist and kissing her but, the expression on Quinn's face was priceless.

'What the hell is going on? Whoa! Why wasn't I invited to the party?" Puck walked in with a smirk on his face and slipped his arm around Quinn's waist.

"Shut up, Fuckerman." I said to him. I leaned over Brittany to grab my jacket off the floor to throw at him.

"Yeah. You two have no room talk. I woke up in the middle of the night and heard you going at it. You're lucky San didn't wake up from it."

I looked down at Brittany and then up at Puck and Quinn who both were now a shade of red. I was going to make a bitchy remark to them when Finn ran in.

"Santana! Santana! Can yo-uh…um, well this is awkward. Should I come back later?"

"What the actual fuck? Can me and my girl here not get any privacy today?" Brittany squeezed my hips.

"San, be nice. I'm sure Finn wouldn't come in here unless it was something important. What's up?" We all turned and looked at Finn standing in the doorway, his head barely missing the top.

"Um, it's Rachel. I think she's waking up."

We all looked at each other and left as a group to Rachel's side. When we got to her, her eyes fluttered open and she gave a soft smile.

"Hey Rach, how are you feeling?" I felt her head to check for a fever. She was sweating but whatever sickness she had was broken. She had color in her face and was aware of what was going on.

She coughed before speaking. "I can definitely say that I have been better. I feel like I was hit by a truck."

"Well, it wasn't a truck thankfully. Just a big ass pole." I smiled at her after she giggled. "Do you remember anything? You got hit on the head pretty hard." I put my hand on her head and ran my thumb over the cut and bruises across her forehead and temple.

"All I remember was hearing gun shots and then the soldiers I was cleaning up were running out the tent. I went over to the bandage cabinet and that's when I heard what sounded like wood snapping. Next thing I knew, I was on the ground with excruciating pain throughout my head and stuck lying under a pole. I heard someone yell my name which I think was Finn," she grabbed Finn's hand and smiled, "but before I saw him everything went black."

"I'm surprised you remember so much. With the blow you took to the head, you shouldn't remember anything, really. With the weight and size of a pole like that falling straight onto your head, you're lucky to be alive. I'm glad you're alright." I placed my hand on her shoulder and squeezed.

It went silent as Brittany, Quinn, Puck, Finn, Rachel, and I all looked around the small room of the bunker at each other. We were all lucky to be alive.

'_If it wasn't for them, who knows if I'd still be alive. Who knows if any of us would still be alive?'_

"Alright Rachel, rest up as much as you can ok? We need to get out of here as soon as possible. If we can make it out of here within the next three days or so, that'd be best. Like I said, there should be a boating deport about thirty miles up the road. We get there and we're home free." Brittany looked down at Rachel from where she was standing behind me.

Everyone left to go back to their respective rooms in the bunker while I stayed with Rachel to assess more of the damage that was done to her.

"Alright, Santana, I know there's more because you were way too calm during that talk just now. So spill, what's really wrong?" She spoke in a hushed tone.

I sighed. "Well, your arm is broken in three places, your cheek is slightly fractured from the impact to your head but, being that the pole hit you mostly on your head, you do have a concussion."

"How bad is my concussion?"

"It's hard to say really. I can tell it can't be that bad due to the fact that you can remember as much as you do and the fact that you're actually awake and talking right now. Once we get back home, I'll take you to the hospital I work at and I can do some tests. For right now though, you have to take it easy, especially when we start moving. If you start to feel light headed or have any pain, I want you to tell me immediately so we can stop ok? For now just get some rest. Hopefully we'll be out of here within the next week."

I stood up and turned to walk out to let Rachel rest.

"Santana?"

"Yeah?"

"Thank you for saving me and for saving Quinn, Finn, and Brittany also. You are an amazing doctor and you should be proud of what you have accomplished."

Before I could respond, Rachel was asleep, leaving me standing in the doorway with my own thoughts.

Two days have passed after our camp was attacked and we made it to the bunker. Rachel has been able to walk around for a good amount of time before getting light-headed. The doctor in me wants to tell her to lie back down and take it easy. The survivor side of me wants to encourage her to keep trying so we can leave. The Lima Heights side of me wants to tell her to suck it up and get a fucking move on.

We've packed all our supplies again, leaving anything we don't need on the wooden table next to the radio. We have all agreed to stay one more night and to leave in the morning. It wasn't until we were all heading to bed for the night that our plans were going to change.

The sounds of boots and a language none of us understood echoed throughout the cave where the bunker was located. From what I could tell there were only two or three men. We all gathered around the door holding our guns and listened. Minutes passed until we didn't hear the voices or footsteps anymore.

"I'm gonna go check to see if they're gone." Brittany put her gun in her holster and pulled a knife out of her boot. "You guys finish the rest of the packing. If I'm not back in ten minutes, follow the trail north until you find the shoreline. There should be a small boat shack. Ask for Damian, tell him the situation, and get out of here."

"What!? Brittany no, you are not going out there by yourself. Do you remember the last time you went out on one of your missions? You got shot!"

"San, this is really not the time to argue about me getting shot."

"I don't care when it is or isn't the time to argue. I refuse to let you go out there by yourself. We don't know how many of them there are!"

"S, she's been trained to do this. If she wants to go alone…let her." Quinn interfered by putting her hand on my arm.

"You know what? Fine! Go on and go out there alone, but if you get shot again before they have a chance to kill you, I'm going to personally finish the job for them!"

Brittany rolled her eyes at me. I won't deny that I was being a bit overdramatic but I couldn't help it. The last thing I want to see is the love of my life getting hurt…or worse.

'_Love of my life…'_

I shook the thought from my head. _'Not now dammit, you'll have more time to think about that once you're home.'_

Brittany gave me a kiss on the lips before she slipped stealthily out of the old wooden door, knife in hand. We all waited anxiously, pacing around the room. A few minutes later, grunts and yells were heard and then there was a thudded echo throughout the bunker of what sounded like a body falling to the floor. Quick footsteps soon followed coming towards the door of the bunker. They stopped right outside. We all held our breath and pointed our guns towards the door. The door flew open and Brittany walked in with blood sprayed over her white tank top, a slice across her collar bone and left bicep, and a bloodied knife in each hand. My mouth fell open at the sight.

'_Holy shit, what the hell happened!?'_ She cut me off, practically hearing my thoughts, before I could even speak.

"Not now San, we need to get out of here. Now. Everybody grab something and get moving. Finn, stay with Rachel. If she gets dizzy or something, you're going to have to carry her. Quinn, Puck, split up Rachel's stuff to carry. We're going to be moving fast and the less she has to worry about right now, the better. San, patch me up."

She took my hand and led me to the room we had stayed in while everyone else scattered to complete her orders. I grabbed my bag of medical supplies and unpacked some bandages. Brittany sat down on the edge of the bed and took of her blood stained shirt, using it to attempt to wipe off the blood still dripping from the open wounds.

"You're probably putting more blood on your body by doing that rather than wiping it off, you know." I said sarcastically while I pushed her hand away so I could use a clean cloth to wipe it.

"Please, just cover these so we can leave. I want to be as far away from here as possible before their buddies come to search for them."

"Buddies? How many of them were there?" I wiped down her arm the best I could.

"Only two but, they were obviously looking for something or someone. I don't really want to take the chance of getting caught."

"Yeah I know. That's why we're going to leave tonight instead of tomorrow morning. Shit, Britt, you're gonna need stitches."

"No. We don't have time, San. Just wrap it or something we have to go." She went to stand up but I forced her back down by her shoulders.

"No. Now you listen to me, if I don't stitch this now, there'll be a few options for your future: You'll pass out from excessive blood loss or it'll get infected and you'll lose your arm. Either way, you lose."

"So there's no third option to that?" She smirked at me. I was glad she loosened up a bit.

"Nope, no third option. So, shut your damn beautiful mouth and let me stitch you up. It'll only take a few minutes. And although you still haven't had the privilege of knowing it yet, I am pretty good with my hands. It won't take long." I winked at her and took the needle and thread out of my pack. Her eyes went wide as she blushed and let me finish her stitches without another complaint.

I finished the stitching in record time. We all gathered the rest of our supplies and cautiously left the safety of our bunker. It was dark out, somewhere around two in the morning I believe. We walked in a formation with Brittany and me in the front, Quinn and Puck in the back, and Rachel and Finn between all of us. All of us walked quickly, staying alert at all times. We had been walking for about fifteen minutes when we saw lights coming from up the road.

"Son of a…everybody get off the road and cover yourselves!" We all scattered. Brittany, Quinn, and I went to the left while Puck, Finn, and Rachel went to the right. We covered ourselves under fallen branches and leaves. All we could do was wait. As the truck got closer, I could feel Brittany's body tense next to me. Quinn scooted closer and we were all lying side by side. The truck passed slowly. After it was out of sight I went to sit up when I feel hand press on my back to push me back down.

"Don't move." Brittany whispered at as she gestured her head towards the road.

Sure enough, there were about ten or so Heartless soldiers following the truck. They walked passed us and just as we thought we were in the clear, one of them stopped right in front of where Puck, Finn, and Rachel were hiding.

"Shit."

"Oh no"

"Puck, please don't do anything stupid."

The soldier cocked his head to the side, searching the darkness. He was about to step forward when another soldier ran up to him. He said something and the two looked down one last time before jogging away to catch up to the rest of their group. This time I didn't move until Brittany decided we were safe for now and stood up. She walked into the middle of the road and looked around. After checking over the area, she motioned for us to come out. We were all about three feet away from her when the first shot rung. I felt a stinging in my shoulder and brought my hand up to it. When I brought it away, I realized my hand was covered in blood.

"You son of a bitch…"

"Everybody run!"

As soon as I heard Brittany yell, my feet started moving and my adrenaline kicked in. The pain was gone from my bleeding shoulder for now. I kept going until I had to stop before passing out. I don't know how long I was running but, when I looked around, I was alone.

_'No…no, no, no, this can't be happening!'_

"Brittany! Quinn!"

'_Fuck…this is not good. Where the hell are they?'_

"Puck! Finn!...Rach...Rachel?"

I stood in the middle of the road looking towards the direction I just came from for any signs of life. I was alone, I was bleeding, I was tired, and I didn't know where the hell I was. There was a light fog floating across the ground and the early morning dew coated the grass on both sides of the road. It was somewhere around four in the morning now and if I wanted any chance of trying to find them, I needed at least some kind of sleep.

I looked around and saw an overturned tree to my right. I walked over to it to inspect it before setting down my stuff. Thankfully, I still had the pack that Brittany made for me along with my small medical bag. I patched my shoulder to the best of my ability being that the bullet grazed my left arm and I wasn't right-handed. I finished bandaging myself and picked up the pack Brittany made.

'_Well, I guess if I was ever gonna go through it, it might as well be now.'_

I sat on the log and opened the pack. There were multiple things inside including extra ammo, knives, instant food, but out of all that, one thing stood out to me. Under everything was a small, tin container with _Dr. Santana Lopez_ written in script on the lid in black marker. After using my knife to cut open the tape that sealed it shut, I opened the lid and took a look inside.

On the inside of the lid was a picture of Brittany and me in the medical tent about two weeks after I arrived at camp. She had stepped in a rock while running and twisted her ankle. She was looking at the camera with a double thumbs up and a goofy grin plastered to her face. She had a brace wrapped around her ankle. I was standing next to her in the photo with my hands on my hips and was looking at her with an 'are you serious?' expression.

I sifted through the box. There were seven different letters folded up, each with a number on it. Tired or not, I was going to get through all of these notes. So, I picked up the letter labeled with a one and started reading.

It was just starting to get light outside by the time I reached the final letter. The other letter's seemed a little messy and rushed but this one was more cared for:

_Santana,_

_Its been two days since we've officially been together. So, I think that now more than ever, would be a good time to tell you what I truly think about you. You're gorgeous, Santana. You're smart, funny, talented…you're perfect. Since the first day I met you I thought you were beautiful. You've never judged me like everyone else has my entire life. When we met, you were the one thing I've wanted for so long…a true friend. My best friend, really. The picture on the inside of the lid is the first day I realized I was falling in love with you. And I was falling hard._

_When we were sitting by the fire with Puck and Quinn, it was the first time I really felt wanted. When you started singing, I just couldn't hold back my tears. I was so happy that you loved me back. Oh, and you have a really pretty voice babe, you should totally sing more often. But yeah, you mean so much to me. I don't know what I would do if I ever lost you._

_I've been creating this pack for a few years now. I wanted you to be prepared for anything in case something was to happen and we were separated from each other. Which I'm guessing that if you're reading this then we got separated somehow._

_Take everything I'm going to say next and remember this now and forever: I will find you. No matter the time, no matter the day, no matter the year, no matter the place…I will find you, Santana. Always. _

_Stay hidden. Stay safe. I will find you._

_I love you, so much. Proudly so._

_~Brittany_

I was crying now. My tears staining the paper in my hands. I put all the letters back in the tin, closed the lid, and placed it back into my pack. The sun was just coming through the tree line. I assumed it had to be around seven in the morning. I couldn't just sit there and do nothing so, I picked up all my stuff and started walking back in the direction I ran from.

I was wearing only a dirty white tank top, camouflage pants, and boots. Brittany had opted to carry my medical coat and extra uniform since I was carrying all of our medical supplies.

I started walking along the side of the road. It had been about a half an hour when I heard crunching in the leaves along the side of the road. I took a quick glance around. There was a small trail of blood along the road

'_This is where I started running last night.'_

There was more rustling in the bushes. I crouched and drew my gun.

'_I swear if it's that same motherfucker from last night, I'm gonna shoot his balls off…'_

I crawled closer towards the sound, gun at the ready. I stopped moving just as the rustling stopped. Coming from around the bend of the road I heard footsteps.

'_Shit.'_

I kept my eye on the bush in front of me so I wasn't attacked and backed my way to the other side of the road. I laid down on my stomach and hid my face, listening to the footsteps get closer. I reached for my pack to grab my extra pistol when I realized it wasn't next to me. I had put it on the ground when I heard the rustling in the bushes.

"Dammit, I am so fucked." I whispered to myself.

The footsteps stopped just as I knew they would. There was whispering between a two people but I couldn't make out what they were saying.

'_Now or never I suppose.' _

I checked my pistol and shot out from my hiding place, aiming my gun. At the same time, Brittany bolted out from the other side of the road aiming her sub-machine gun and between both of us was Quinn, Puck, Rachel, and Finn all aiming guns at the both of us.

"Santana?"

"Rachel? Finn?"

"Brittany?"

"Quinn? Puck?"

"Britt?"

"San?"

"Oh my god…what in the hell is going on?" I finally broke our awkward greeting.

"Well, obviously we all had the same idea and came back to this wonderful little spot."

"Yes, thank you, Q, I realized that." I rolled my eyes. Quinn must be tired since she's being so sassy.

"Alright, everyone chill. The main thing is that we're all back together. Ladies put your claws away and let's get this road trip started again shall we?" Puck butted in after Quinn and I had a stare down.

"Come on you guys, Puck's right, let's get moving." Brittany sighed and started walking away from the rest of us.

I kept my distance. She seemed upset about something and I knew I should just let her think about it before I approached the subject. We all walked for a little over an hour before we stopped to rest. Everyone took a seat on the side of the road. Brittany walked a few feet away from us. She leaned against a tree, crossed her arms over her chest, and faced away from us. I stood up and walked over to her.

I wrapped my arms around her waist. "Hey," I whispered in her ear after kissing her shoulder, "you ok?"

"Yeah…I'm fine Santana. You should go sit with everyone to rest a little before we move again."

"You see, I was going to do that but, now that I realize you're not alright, I'm not going to. Instead I'm going to stand here until you tell me what's wrong." I let go of her waist and stood in front of her.

"Nothing's wrong, just go get some rest."

"Oh really, nothing's wrong? Are you forgetting that I know you better than anyone else?" I stared her down, her eyes never leaving the ground. "You're upset about something and it must have to do with me because you aren't admitting it. And I know for a fact you're upset because for one you NEVER call me Santana and two, you never give up an opportunity to hug me or talk to me. So spill it, what's wrong?"

It was silent between us for a few minutes before she looked up at me and broke into tears. She wrapped hers arms around my neck and pulled me into a tight hug.

"Oh Britt, what happened?"

She spoke but, it was muffled from her sobs and from where she had her head buried into my neck.

"What?"

"I tho-thought I los-lost you forev-er." Her sobbing grew.

"Oh Britt Britt, you didn't lose me forever. We'll always find each other, remember?"

"You read the le-etters?"

"Of course. You told me if we ever got separated to go through the bag. So, I did. I will always find you Brittany." She pulled her head away from my neck and looked at me with her red, puffy eyes.

"And I will always find you, Santana."

She kissed me and I felt like I was flying. I had the girl of my dreams, and I was never going to let her go.

I pulled back from our kiss and looked into her eyes.

"You know, I thought that was really sweet of you." I smiled at her. I brought my hand to her cheek and wiped away some stray tears.

"What was?" She asked me, taking my hand in her own and bringing it to her lips.

"That little container with all the letters in it. They were all so sweet but, the seventh one was my favorite. I didn't know you though all of that about me or that you've loved me for so long."

"Well, of course I think those things, San. What's not to love?" She gave me a wink and a soft, quick kiss.

"Ok but, I do have to know one thing…why didn't you tell me that you loved me? We could've been together a long time ago."

"I know that now, but when I first realized I loved you, I was too afraid to say anything. I didn't know how you felt about me and I didn't want to ruin our friendship. I couldn't have taken losing you as friend so I kept my feelings to myself. Not knowing if you felt the same way was a lot less painful than if I lost you as my friend. I couldn't take the chance."

"Well, lucky for you, Ms. Pierce, I do, in fact, feel the same way." I smiled at her and she returned the gesture.

"I love you, Santana."

"And I love you, Brittany."

"Proudly so?"

"Proudly so."

She took my hand and started to walk us back over to the rest of the group. I leaned into her ear before we reached them.

"Oh, and I'm totally ok with you calling me babe." I whispered. She blushed at me and I winked. I gave her a kiss on the cheek as we sat down with the group. Brittany put her arm around me and pulled me into her lap.

"I love you." She whispered.

"I love you, too" I kissed her.

'_Proudly so…'_

**Ok so I'm really sorry it took me a while to write this. Work has been a killer. I've been ridiculously tired lately. I'll try to get the next one out a little quicker. Thanks for reading. **


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